For years Four Roses’s barrel program has been a hot commodity amongst whiskey fans. Over the last few years the program has become so limited that people have trouble sourcing even a bottle or two.
With the ever increasing value these bottles trade for and the record shattering speed these bottles sell out for, a simple question is left in the minds of many — what is a viable alternative for a Four Roses single barrel bourbon that doesn’t break the bank?
Enter Bulleit’s brand spanking new barrel program. A new consumer single barrel program whose details sound awfully familiar to Four Roses fans: five yeast strains and two mashbills for 10 total recipes — just like Four Roses. Best of all, priced at $59 — $20 cheaper than Four Roses. I mean… Can it be?
Rumors circulated through the bourbon world that Bulleit single barrel picks were just another Four Roses single barrel by another name. We’ve all read the blogs, Facebook and IG posts and heard podcasts with people making those same claims.
But is it true? To find out, I turned to the people who would HAVE to know: Melissa Rift, the head of the barrel program at Bulleit; the company’s PR Guru, Allison Fleischer; and the global brand director Ed Bello, who leads the brand for Diageo. I also spoke with the head of the barrel program at Four Roses, the incredibly well loved Mandy Vance.
Long story short, no, Bulleit single barrel selections are not Four Roses Single barrels in a different bottle.
Four Roses acknowledges that, while it is no longer distilling for Diageo, the company is still aging Diageo barrels at their facilities. That product is sent to Bulleit in a tanker — not barrels. On my own visits to Four Roses, I have witnessed Diageo barrels, marked DG for Diageo, being dumped. Our group even took pictures in front of them.
Diageo Barrel at Four Roses
Stamped OBS?
More empty Bulleit Barrels at Four Roses
Stamped OBSV
I have seen questions arise, “What if Bulleit is rebarreling these?” So I asked. Bulleit’s Response:
Bulleit is very clear that none of its single barrels are from Four Roses. They point out that it would be expensive to rebarrel bourbon that’s been shipped in tankers and that bourbon couldn’t really be called “single barrel” anymore.
Furthermore, Bulleit told me that all of the liquid in its program arrives in barrels that are then aged for an additional amount of time on site. They declined to state which four distilleries supply the barrels — only to emphasize that none of them are Four Roses.
Many might be thinking, “They could be lying. Lots of distilleries lie — or at least are vague — about their products’ sources.”
Well, ask yourself, why would they lie now when they haven’t lied about their distillery relationship with Four Roses in the past? After all, Four Roses makes great bourbon, and its single barrel picks are wildly popular. Promoting, or even hinting at, an association with Four Roses would add value to Bulleit’s offering. A bourbon drinker thinking their bottle of Bulleit single barrel actually comes from Four Roses based on the 10 recipes pitching point would also assume that Four Roses was making all 10 recipes available to Bulleit to begin with.
When asked if Four Roses was sending them only one recipe, Bulleit’s response was simply: We cannot specifically say how many or if it’s even more than the one you mentioned (OBSV from the Barrel heads above) We do not source from one distillery or one product. We have always sourced from multiple distilleries and blended on site. None of our SKUs have been a single product, save for our rye which comes from Indiana. We have always sourced product from multiple locations and blended here.
Ed Bello confirmed that when he joined the brand six years ago they had already been doing it this way. Although many people thought Bulleit bourbon was Four Roses by another time, myself included, Bulleit is stating that, that was incorrect.
After discussing this issue a bit further with Allison and Melissa, the confusion seems to be from reasonable assumptions and misinformation by both consumers, and, unfortunately, distributors and retailers who made the same incorrect assumption.
In conclusion:
No, despite how great your barrel selection is, it does not contain Four Roses at a $20 discount.
Four Roses maturate comes to Bulleit in tankers — not barrels.
All of the barrels in Bulleit’s program arrived in barrels that are aged further on site.
The final thing to mention, the glaring and obvious one, their Mashbills.
Bulleit’s low rye mashbill is 75/21/4
Four Roses is 75/20/5 low rye
Bulleit’s high rye is 60/36/4
Four Roses is 60/35/5
It’s not the same recipe and it’s a different yeast.
I'd like to thank both Bulleit and Four Roses for being open to having this discussion and willing to work together to answer any questions I had.
Sadly, this rumor holds less liquid than a barrel without a bung. However, as someone who has picked several Bulleit single barrels, I can attest the liquid is still fantastic and a decent bang for your buck — even if it’s not Four Roses with a moustache.
Cheers.
Kristopher Hart